I Was Just Thinking … That God Accomplishes His Purposes

Great encouragement came to me recently from Isaiah 55:11, “So shall my promise be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty; rather, it shall accomplish what I intend, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I send it.” This verse teaches us that God’s declarations effectively change lives. It also affirms how fruitful our own lives will be when we respond to his command to seek him. In the very next verse, Isaiah says, “For you shall go out in joy,” and then he describes how full life will be for those who respond to him. So in verse 11, when Isaiah says that God’s promises will prosper in the thing for which God sent it, he is talking about the wonderful purposes that will be realized in people who remain true to him.

Isaiah 55:11 greatly encouraged me because it promises that as I obey God, he will bring my life to a most worthwhile and meaningful conclusion, a conclusion I will not want to miss. It comforts me to know this as I go about my daily affairs—grading stacks of term papers and final exams, reading and answering letters, preparing lessons to teach, or pecking away at my typewriter, trying to bring to birth another chapter for a book.

Sometimes Satan jeeringly says, “Do you really think that all this work is ever going to amount to anything? You’re kicking up a lot of dust with all this action, but where’s any real production to show for it all?” But how marvelously suited is Isaiah 55:11 to quench such a fiery dart. This verse makes it clear that I should not worry about making my life worthwhile. As long as I am confident that I am in the center of God’s will, I can be sure that God will accomplish the purpose that he has established for me. In the meantime, my job is just to move along the path God has set before me, a step at a time, a day at a time.

Then, another time, Satan objects, “You have these specific plans you hope to accomplish. You hope to write a book on how to interpret the Bible, and then one on the unfolding of God’s plan of the ages, but just think of all the things that could happen to prevent you from writing those books—like illness, accident, or a tragedy in your family. But Isaiah 55:11 is beautifully capable of also quenching this fiery dart. Two verses earlier, God said, “My ways are not your ways … for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways” (Isaiah 55:9).

The plans I have projected for my life may not be at all the plans that God has for me, since his ways are so much higher than my ways. But while my plans will not necessarily be realized, yet Isaiah 55:11 says that God’s plans for my life will most certainly come to fulfillment. And surely God is in a much better position than I am to make wise plans for me. He’s the one who runs the whole world, so his plans for me will not be out of step with things but will fit right in with his master plan.

Then, too, since he loves me so much that he sent his only Son to die for me, his love for me will surely employ all his perfect knowledge and wisdom to map out the very best pathway, all things considered, for me to follow as I fit into his master plan. So I reply to Satan, “Whether I write those books or not, God will accomplish that which he purposes for me, and his plan is the very best thing that I could possibly want.”

When we resist the devil with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, Satan soon flees. Liar that he is, there is nothing he finds more unpleasant than to be confronted with the Word of God.

Daniel P. Fuller
January 1973